pucker
- to draw or gather into wrinkles or irregular folds, as material or a part of the face; constrict: Worry puckered his brow.
- a wrinkle; an irregular fold.
- a puckered part, as of cloth tightly or crookedly sewn.
- Archaic. a state of agitation or perturbation.
Origin of pucker
Related Words for pucker
crinkle, ruck, crease, fold, plait, crumple, furrow, ruckle, tighten, squeeze, ruffle, purse, gather, compress, condense, contract, cockle, knitExamples from the Web for pucker
Contemporary Examples of pucker
She is the author of two young adult novels, The Map That Breathed and Pucker.
Historical Examples of pucker
He was gazin' at me with his mouth open and a pucker between his eyes.
Shorty McCabeSewell Ford
He drew his brow into a pucker which furrowed the flesh between his brows.
Tess of the Storm CountryGrace Miller White
What are you thinking of, Judy, and why do you pucker up your forehead?
A Young MutineerMrs. L. T. Meade
“Padre, my shoe pinches,” said Nora with a pucker between her eyes.
The Place of HoneymoonsHarold MacGrath
Mr. Ashe laughed as he smoothed out a pucker in his niece's brow.
Blue Bonnet in BostonCaroline E. Jacobs
pucker
- to gather or contract (a soft surface such as the skin of the face) into wrinkles or folds, or (of such a surface) to be so gathered or contracted
- a wrinkle, crease, or irregular fold
Word Origin for pucker
Word Origin and History for pucker
1590s, "prob. earlier in colloquial use" [OED], possibly a frequentative form of pock, dialectal variant of poke "bag, sack" (see poke (n.1)), which would give it the same notion as in purse (v.). "Verbs of this type often shorten or obscure the original vowel; compare clutter, flutter, putter, etc." [Barnhart]. Related: Puckered; puckering.
1726, literal; 1741, figurative; from pucker (v.).